I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to hold down or anchoring devices and, more particularly, to such a device for use with a mobile home.
II. Description of the Prior Art
Due to their low cost, maximum land space utilization, and a plurality of other reasons, modular housing has become increasingly popular in our society. Such modular housing is commonly called a mobile home even though such homes are usually transported by a towing truck and semipermanently mounted upon a base at a chosen location. Such mobile homes are oftentimes never again transported except for their original installation.
Despite the relative permanence of a typical mobile home installation, the support for the home is oftentimes makeshift and inadequate. Moreover, since the weight of a typical mobile home is considerably less than that of a conventional dwelling, merely resting the mobile home on jacks or blocks, as is the usual case, does not produce the degree of support or stability to adequately insure against the mobile home shifting on its base due to normal vibration and/or wind forces.
In order to stabilize these previously known mobile homes there have been previously known anchoring devices engagable between an I-beam on the mobile home underframe and the base. One of these previously known anchoring devices is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,151 to Kaywood et al.
In the Kaywood et al mobile home anchor, a pair of spaced clamping elements engage the lower flange of an I-beam on the mobile home underframe. A tubular sleeve and bolt arrangement extends through registering apertures in the clamping elements and also through one link of a chain. The other end of the chain is connected via a turnbuckle through the mobile home support base.
A prime disadvantage of this previously known anchor, however, is the bolt and sleeve connection between the clamping elements at the upper end of the chain. More specifically, the multiplicity of the required assembly components, namely the bolt, sleeve, nut and conventional washers hinders the assembly of the mobile home anchor and makes the assembly both difficult and time consuming. The limited space between the underframe of the mobile home and its support base further increases the difficulty of assembly of this previously known mobile home anchor particularly since the installer must be able to reach and manipulate both ends of the bolt in order to tighten it.
A still further disadvantage of this previously known mobile home anchor is that after a period of time, the bolt, nut and tubular sleeve become rusted to each other which makes disassembly of the anchor, when desired, difficult if not altogether impossible. In these cases, it is usually necessary to saw through the anchor or otherwise destroy it in order to free the mobile home from the base. This, however, requires expensive replacement of the anchor upon the subsequent reinstallation of the mobile home.